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October 29, 2008

Maybe. Maybe not.

We know some change will occur with C.J. Davis taking over at Center and Dom Williams at left guard. After that the rest of the two-deep on the O-line is apparently in potential flux.

Pitt offensive line coach Tony Wise believes Davis will handle the transition seamlessly. Davis already was taking pre-practice snaps with quarterbacks, so he has the mechanics down. The main adjustment will come in making the calls on blocking assignments. Davis not only knows the offensive scheme but occasionally helped Houser in that regard.

Where it could affect the Panthers is in the run game, as Davis was adept at pulling for lead blocks on power plays. But Wise looks at the move as an advantage, considering Davis is one of the team’s most powerful players and will be going head-to-head with Notre Dame 310-pounder Ian Williams.

“Their best player is a nose tackle, so, in some ways, that’s a little bit of a benefit,” Wise said. “C.J. is a little bit more powerful in there. There’s a downside at left guard, but he could possibly be a benefit at center with him being covered by this guy.”

Wise didn’t rule out the possibility that Pitt could make future changes to the starting lineup, hinting that freshman right tackle Lucas Nix could get a long look at left guard as a backup to or replacement for Williams.

The one constant appears to be Davis staying at center.

The fact that Pitt has no real back-up center is just mindblowing. So far, Wannstedt hasn’t recruited any centers beyond Houser last year. Instead, trying to develop one from O-line recruits. An experiment that has failed miserably every year. As witnessed last year when senior Chris Vangas still won the job by default. Before that, Vangas couldn’t beat Joe Villani, who transferred from Bucknell. Do you know who the back-up has been and is (PDF)? Alex Karabin — a redshirt sophomore walk-on and no, he isn’t a center by trade.

Bill Stull may or may not play/start at QB. Here’s my view. I don’t care if he’s medically cleared. He should not play. He took a concussion. Mild or otherwise, it is still a brain bruise. Stull is a bright kid. He wants to play I have no doubt. It’s not his call, and it shouldn’t be. The coaches and the program have a responsibility to the players. Given the present state of Pitt’s O-line and a blitz happy John Tenuta (TAH-NOO-TAH BLITZ!!!!) on the other side, it isn’t worth it for his long term health.

I just don’t know whether Coach Wannstedt means it when he says there may be changes, whether it applies to the the secondary. The beat writers don’t even seem sure of what Wannstedt will actually do.

The other areas that could see changes are in the secondary — which was torched for 371 yards and six touchdowns by Rutgers’ Mike Teel — and at punt returner, where Aaron Berry has struggled and had a costly fumble against the Scarlet Knights.

Reserve cornerbacks Ricky Gary and Antwuan Reed likely will get some extended looks in practice this week and split some time with Jovani Chappel. At safety, Elijah Fields might play more than he has had in recent games.

“I’m not going to stand up here and tell you that we’re going to have changes,” Wannstedt said. “But we are evaluating everyone on what we’re doing and who we’re dealing with.”

That promises exactly nothing.

The headline editor at the Trib. either must have freaked out from Wannstedt’s press conference where he seemed to talk a bit too much about ND running the ball against Washington or he decided to freak out Pitt fans with a headline of, “Pitt focused on Irish running game.” The actual article stresses, however the passing aspect of the Irish.

Eric Thatcher has taken a lot of criticism the whole season for his actual play at safety. Much of it deserved. I just don’t see Wannstedt making a move with him. He’s a senior, been a “good soldier” for Wannstedt, and he stands up and takes the responsibility.

What in the heck happened to Pitt’s pass defense? Safety Eric Thatcher tried to figure that out in the film room on Monday.

“We got kind of lackadaisical at the reception point, and they went up and attacked the ball,” Thatcher said. “On some of the routes, we didn’t get our hands on receivers to slow them down. Teel had a ton of time to sit back there and decide who he wanted to throw to, and the secondary, we gave him a ton of options to pick from.”

“I kind of take ownership of what happened because I’m the senior in the secondary,” Thatcher said. “I’ve been around and I know the things we need to do. On Saturday, we just did none of those things.”

“We know that we’ll have a ton of people watching,” Thatcher said. “We want to show people that last week was just a mix-up and that we can cover in that secondary.”

A great guy, but he’s just not good enough on the field.

On the Notre Dame side, they have some minor injury issues.

Weis said senior wide receiver David Grimes, who missed the Washington game because of back spasms, told him Monday he was “100 percent.” Weis said he’d wait until Tuesday’s practice to see how far along the captain has come.

Meanwhile, Weis said sophomore linebacker Brian Smith, who suffered a mild concussion against Washington, will be limited in practice this week but is expected to play against Pittsburgh.

Both are starters.

Charlie Weis thinks Pitt will go with the “circle the wagons” approach.

After posting five consecutive victories, Pitt took a step back last week with a 54-34 home loss to Rutgers. And because of that, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis believes the Panthers may have an extra edge about them when the two 5-2 teams meet Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium.

“I think they’ll take an ‘us against the world’ mentality,” Weis said during his Tuesday meeting with the media.

Can’t hurt. Go with the “no one believes in us” approach. Pin up the Smizik column all over the place.

The legend of LeSean McCoy continues as the South Bend paper puts out the story on McCoy checking his name off a sign at the Georgetown-Pitt game.

A year made a big difference for ND’s offense which could go from dead last in 1-A last year to top-40 or better.

Finally, Rakes of Mallow — an excellent ND football blog — offers a personal view of Dave Wannstedt as a Dolphin fan who grew up in Western PA.





I actually watched Rudy today just to build up some extra hate for the Irish.

Ok, I actually like the movie in a corny sort of way, but just for the story, and not because it’s a 2 hour infomercial for Notre Dame.

But the Irish can still suck it.

Comment by Jimbo Covert's My Dad 10.30.08 @ 12:27 am

Well, the fact is that the Panthers DO have a back-up center, but Davis just happens to be better than the backup so he’ll slide over. Luckily our depth along the OL should accomodate this. We’ll see.

Comment by Reed 10.30.08 @ 5:00 am

Notre Dame is too strong offensively and Weis will out coach Wanny all day. I think we have a shot against everyone else though.

Comment by FatsythebigMick 10.30.08 @ 5:42 am

Pressure Jimmy Clausen…

Comment by Dave in Orlando 10.30.08 @ 7:49 am

I just read the ND blog post….it was dead on. I keep hoping that Wanny got his wake-up call. I guess we will see.

Comment by Jen 10.30.08 @ 8:46 am

I don’t necessarily agree with some of the posts suggesting that the Irish are too strong at the Weiss will outcoach Wanny any day of the week. Notre Dame comes into the game with a solid record and has improved over the course of the season. That being said, they also have two losses against the only two good teams they’ve played, so its tough to tell how good they really are. They have some good athletes and will be fired up to play at home after being on the road for two weeks, but I don’t necessarily think that they are any better than the Panthers.

How Pitt responds in this game will be very telling of how the rest of the season will play out and how Wannstedt’s career at Pitt will play out. This is a huge game for the program, I’m not even necessarily looking for a “W”, especially if Stull doesn’t play, but if they can come out and compete with the Irish on the road for 4 quarters they will be ok.

Comment by TJ 10.30.08 @ 9:53 am

I just read the article about McCoy checking his name off the sign at the bball game… this quote caught my attention:

“Physically, the talent is there,” he (Wannstedt) said during a teleconference earlier this season, “but once he mentally starts to learn to read defenses and get the big picture of what we’re doing on offense, he will become more and more effective.”

Why is it so hard and why does it take so long for players to “get the big picture of what we’re doing on offense”? do you think wanny will still be saying that next year? that is if shady is still a panther?

Comment by Dobber 10.30.08 @ 9:55 am

As mind boggling as the home losses are, I think a road win at ND will appease most of us. Let put a complete game together… LET GO PITT!

Comment by Pittastic 10.30.08 @ 10:07 am

I will be there at the game(unfortunately with ND fans). Any of you going to the game? HAIL TO PITT!!!!! LET’S GO PITT!!!!!

Comment by B 10.30.08 @ 10:38 am

Some how Greg Cross has to get on the field. He’s fast, and explosive and can give the offense a different dimension to go with McCoy. I think this is a big game for the program. If we loose Saturday it will be tough for us to get 7 wins. As much as I hate to say that!

Either way win or lose I will be supporting this program with alum pride! Hail To PITT!

Comment by Lou 10.30.08 @ 11:22 am

In the spirit of the post by Jimbo Covert’s My Dad, I offer two words to remind everyone of just how deeply the hatred should run:
Julius Jones.

Comment by maz. 10.30.08 @ 12:35 pm

” Notre Dame comes into the game with a solid record and has improved over the course of the season. That being said, they also have two losses against the only two good teams they’ve played, so its tough to tell how good they really are. ”

This insinuates that you believe Pitt is as good or better than UNC and MSU??

Comment by trey 10.30.08 @ 2:05 pm

I would say Pitt is as good and better than UNC and MSU when they play a complete game. And I believe that most posters on the site would agree considering the reaction following Pitt losses.
Interesting blog article I came across on the Big East/ ND relationship: link to hailtopitt.blogspot.com

Comment by Pitt is It 10.30.08 @ 2:15 pm

I would say Pitt is as good and better than UNC and MSU when they play a complete game. And I believe that most posters on the site would agree considering the reaction following Pitt losses.
Interesting blog article I came across on the Big East/ ND relationship: link to hailtopitt.blogspot.com
Chec
k it out

Comment by Pitt is It 10.30.08 @ 2:16 pm

@Trey,
I was not insinuating that Pitt is as good or better than UNC or MSU. They may or may not be. The fact of the matter is that the Irish have lost to the two good teams they’ve played this season. I still think Notre Dame is a decent team and the loss to UNC came on the road in a tough game. It is just difficult to gauge how good they are relative to Pitt because of the fact that they did lose to both MSU and UNC and b/c of the fact that Pitt has shown flashes of brilliance and also been disappointing at times. That was my point.

Comment by TJ 10.30.08 @ 2:50 pm

How bad is Chase Clowser? Why not give him a shot? I had class with him three years ago and he is scary huge. 6’7, 345 lbs to be exact. I cannot remember him being in one offensive snap in his five years in the program. Couldn’t a guy that big just destroy anything that comes his way?

Comment by AJ 10.30.08 @ 6:42 pm

Scouts.com is showing that Miles Dieffenbach a junior center from Fox Chapel has an offer from Pitt, for what it’s worth. Has anyone ever seen this kid play, is he legit?

Comment by Winedogs 10.30.08 @ 8:55 pm

AJ, Clowser has seen action this season as a second stringer and has done well in the time he’s played. Unfortunately for him he has two other second string guys along with him named Nix and Jacobson who are both highly recruited well thought of players.

Comment by Reed 10.31.08 @ 4:03 am

Anyone hear anything about the status of Bill Stull?

Comment by SouthBeaverJim 10.31.08 @ 1:54 pm

I’ve heard mixed things. He did practice though. This guy thinks Stull will play. See below:
link to hailtopitt.blogspot.com

Comment by Anonymous 10.31.08 @ 2:40 pm

For what its worth, this guy thinks Stull will play. He makes a pretty convincing case.
link to hailtopitt.blogspot.com

Comment by Jim T. 10.31.08 @ 2:45 pm

My hope: Run LeSean against ND. They haven’t shown much ability to stop the run. Rush, rush, rush, and rush some more. Please Wanny.

My fear: If Rutgers stomped on us with the passing game, what will ND do to us? Theirs is much better than Rutgers. Although Clausen sometimes makes mistakes, his throws are usually accurate. Also, their receiving corps (esp. Golden Tate and Michael Floyd) has been stellar. Look up some of their highlight reels on the internet from earlier games this season (warning: not for the weak of heart, those guys are good).

Comment by Gussie Fink-Nottle 10.31.08 @ 6:01 pm

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